


Stealing My Move

by Riley_Scott



Series: I'm Running Outta Time (going outta my mind) [7]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-18
Updated: 2016-01-18
Packaged: 2018-05-14 16:03:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5749456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riley_Scott/pseuds/Riley_Scott
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A late night talk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stealing My Move

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back!!!! Have had a lot of life changes in the last few months and writing has been on the back burner, and I have missed it so much. I hope that I'll be more productive on this front in the coming weeks/months. And as always, as long as there is still interest I will keep writing. 
> 
> Also, this is 100% unedited, but I plan on cleaning it up in the next couple of days. I just really wanted to get something posted. 
> 
> Enjoy.

Oliver woke up to the strangest sensation. 

At first he thought he was dreaming, the random tapping against his knuckles was totally out of place in the dark, quiet bedroom. The tapping stopped, and he felt his eyes start to drift closed once again as sleep began to pull him under. 

Seconds later the tapping resumed, a little more persistent. On instinct he tighten his arms, squeezing the woman in his arms a little tighter, and rubbed his cheek against the back of her head. The smell of her shampoo invaded his senses and smiled. He felt her tense and the tapping stopped once again. 

“Oliver?” He heard her ask, her voice soft and hesitant. He frowned, wondering what could possibly be bothering her. 

“What’s wrong?” He asked, burying his head into the crook of her neck, placing a kiss on the curve where her neck met her shoulder. 

“Why would something be wrong?” Felicity asked him and he smiled into her skin. She was a lot of things, but a good liar was not one of them. 

“Because you’ve been tapping out an sos on my hands for the past 20 minutes.” He teased, running his nose along the shell of her ear. The tension in her shoulders made him want to cuddle her until she felt safe again. 

“Oh.” Was all she said in response. 

He waited. There wasn’t really anything else he could do, knowing her well enough at this point in their relationship that she wouldn’t come clean until she wanted to. He waited, and counted her breaths until the depth of them changed and suddenly she sighed, sounding frustrated. 

“I've just been wondering if you’ve changed your mind.” She asked and his chest ached when he realized that her voice was clouded with unshed tears. 

“About what, hon?” He asked softly, not wanting to spook her. She seemed to have done that all on her own. 

“About giving me the ring.” She answered simply and he stopped breathing. He tightened his grip on her even more and struggled through the panic in his mind to find an answer. But she beat him to it 

“I wasn’t snooping, I swear. I was just going through the last of the boxes in the attic last week. I was trying to find my grandmothers blanket, I wanted to put it in the guest room for when my Mom stays over next weekend and there it was. All big and shiny and perfect and I realized that it was your grandmother’s ring. The one your Mom has kept in that safe in your Dad’s office since she died when you were little? I only know that because Thea showed it to me when I was staying over one weekend when your parents were away and I remember her saying how your grandmother had left it to you in her will, specifically for you to give it to the woman you wanted to marry. And my first thought was that it was really sweet, you know, how your grandmother’s ring was in the same box as my grandmother’s blanket but then it hit me. That those boxes have been stored up there for months. Months, Oliver. And I know you haven't been up there in months because, despite what you say I know that the spider in the corner really freaks you out and you never go up there without me. So that ring has been up there for months. So that means that months ago you went to your Mother and asked for your grandmother's ring so you could propose to me and stored it up there when we were moving everything from storage and somewhere along the way you changed your mind. Which is fine, I mean, it’s free country, you can change your mind if you want and I know it doesn’t mean that you don’t love me. I know that you do. But I guess, I guess I just don’t know why? I don’t know what changed from that day till this one? Did I do something? Can I fix it?” She asked, and if Oliver didn’t know her so well he would have missed the way her babble seemed to break apart. 

Oliver wondered if she could feel his heart pounding against her back. 

He wondered if she knew how much he hated that she was trembling against him. 

She had found the ring. 

She had found the ring and thought that he had changed his mind. 

And everyone thought she was the intelligent one in the relationship.

“Do you remember the day we found this place?” He asked, totally ignoring her questions.

“Um. Yeah. I guess. We um, we were actually supposed to be looking at the house on the corner, but you typed the address into the GPS wrong.” She answered, her voice heavy with confusion. 

“Yeah. I inverted the numbers. You were so cute. We walked up to the door, knocked and you were so confused when the owner answered instead of Tatsu.” He remembered fondly. 

She giggled quietly. “Yeah. She was so thrown. She couldn't figure out how we had known that she had just put the house on the market. They hadn't even signed there papers with the her realtor yet.” She mused, and he knew she was remembering how perfect that day had been. Tatsu, their realtor had called them, frustrated that they had never shown for the scheduled viewing, and had rolled her eyes endlessly when she realized that they had been overworking her for weeks, only to stumble upon their dream house without her. 

“I knew the second we walked into this living room that we would make a home here. I didn’t tell you, but I knew I wanted our lives to be here. So after we moved in, the day after the house warming I took Donna and my Mom out to lunch. I went to ask your Mom for her permission to marry you. And I invited my Mom to ask for the ring. But apparently she had already guessed, and she brought it with her.” He paused, laughing. He had felt like such a sap that day. When Moria had pulled his grandmother's ring from her purse he had teared up more than Donna. 

Felicity slowly pulled herself from his arms, and he felt his stomach drop. But she wasn’t pulled away, she was just turning over to face him and his breath caught in his throat. He could tell from her eyes that she had been crying for hours before her nervous energy had woken him. 

“So. You’ve had the ring for almost a year?” She asked sadly. 

He nodded.

“You did change your mind.” She stated, sounding resigned. 

“Yes.” He answered her.

“At first, I wanted to propose that first night. The ring was burning a hole in my pocket. Every step I took make it hit my thigh and it was all I could think about. But then I decided that you deserved better than that. A few weeks later I decided to cook you a big dinner and surprise you. Do the whole ‘ring in the desert’ thing. But then Laurel and Thea stopped by to drag you to that new Avengers movie and the mood was ruined. Then I asked Tommy and Digg for advice and that told me that proposing with food was always a bad idea, so then I decided to do it on our anniversary. But Digg told Lyla, and Lyla told Laurel and Laurel told Sara and Sara told Thea and the next thing I knew I had four women telling me what a cheesy idea that was. So I was 3 for 3 and still had no idea how to do it. I think by that point I had started to over think it. I planned so many different scenarios. Exotic vacations, surprise parties, sappy dinners, the works. I had so many different plans, but they all apart.” He said with a frustrated sigh. 

Felicity frowned, her brow wrinkling and she looked more adorable than he could ever remember her looking. “Is that why Thea always wants to high five me? And Sara is always asking to see my manicure? Because they are always looking for the ring?” She asked, her eyes unfocused. 

“Probably.” He answered, knowing how much grief he had been getting from his sister and friend over the last few months. 

“I don’t understand. Did you just give up then? You couldn’t figure out how to propose so you just decided not to? And put the ring away?” She questioned him, obviously hurt.

“No, honey. I put the ring away because I couldn’t control myself anymore.” He told her honestly. 

“Excuse me?” 

“I had started slipping it onto you finger in the middle of the night. I had started putting it beside your coffee cup. I would move your glasses and put the ring in their place. Hell, I even put in the bowl of decorative rocks on the coffee table, just hoping you would find it. But then I would always take it back before you could wake up, or see it. I just wanted me giving you that ring to be the most special moment of your life. You deserve that. And that’s what changed, I realized that after months of trying that I’m not able to give you that. Not able to give you that moment that you deserve. So I put it away, in the attic, guarded by Franklin the spider, until I could give it to you.” He confessed, looking down at her hands, imaging all the times that he had pictured her wearing the ring.

“You put it on my finger while I was sleeping?” She questioned. He nodded and she bit her lip. “I thought I was dreaming.” She told him, her hand reaching down to interlace their fingers. 

“Good dream, or bad dream?” He asked, a strained smile on his face. 

“Did you ever really question whether I would say yes?” She wondered, her tone sympathetic. 

“I still question everyday why you chose me.” He admitted and sighed when she shifted in the bed until she could place a kiss on his forehead. 

Stealing his moves.

“I’ll make you a deal, Oliver. I’m a sleep talker. You know this. I’ve just been sleep talking. It’s the darnedest thing, you could have sworn I was awake. I won’t remember any of this in the morning. There is no ring in the attic. But when there is a ring. When you look at me, and you can’t stand the idea of me not wearing that ring for another second? You’ll give it to me. It doesn’t matter where we are, what you say or who is there to see it. You give me that ring and I’ll know it's because you love me and want to be with me forever. And because you finally accept the fact that there in nothing you could say or do that would keep me from wearing that ring the rest of my life.” She told him, her eyes clear for the first time that night. 

His, on the other hand, were probably worse than hers had ever been. His throat tight he couldn't speak, so he just nodded. That seemed to satisfy her and she placed another quick kiss on his forehead and spun her body back around, working her way back into the mold of his body. 

She was asleep within minutes. 

Oliver, not so much. 

Had Felicity just proposed to him?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

True to her word, Felicity awoke the next morning like nothing had happened the night before. He tried to play it off, but the following few days he was constantly on alert. He felt more clumsy than he had ever been in his life. But Felicity seemed totally at ease about the elephant in the room. Or the elephant in the attic as it were.

But she wasn’t as good of an actor as she thought. 

A week later, when Smoak Signals had an office party to celebrate their IPO and Felicity had introduced Oliver to Curtis’s husband for the first time, and had launched into a babble about how she was ‘practically engaged’ after commenting on how hot her co-worker’s husband is, was enough to have Oliver gripping her arm and biting his lip. 

Two weeks later she and Oliver had invited everyone over for a bbq to celebrate the unseasonably warm weather and everyone had shown up with gifts, expecting it to be a surprise engagement party. 

And three weeks after that Oliver found hid DVR taken over by 12 episodes of ‘Say Yes to the Dress’. 

By that point it was more of a joke to Oliver. Felicity had begun a routine. Every morning she would wake up and immediately look at her hands. Then she would pick up her coffee cup and look under it and swirl her spoon around slowly, listening for clinking. Every night when he cooked dinner she would pull apart all baked items and wouldn’t drink her wine until she had checked the bottom of the glass. 

Every gathering with friends she would be extra cautious of, asking a million questions, and would always make sure to get a fresh manicure before a night out. 

He had accepted that surprising her was out of the question. She was getting more and more suspicious every day, and he knew his game couldn't go on for much longer before she just went upstairs herself and put the ring on. 

And then one night about 6 weeks after their middle of the night conversation Oliver came out of their shared bathroom and stopped just inside the doorway. Felicity had a particularly busy week at work, and she had been exhausted. So exhausted that she had barely done her usual ring search during dinner. So instead of trying to entice her into the shower with him, he had left her to her book. Which she was now pretending to read as she snoozed in bed. Her glasses were crooked and her hair falling in her face. Her head was dipping back and forth as she fought off sleep and he felt a sappy smile spread across his face. 

She knew him. She knew that eventually there would be a moment when he couldn’t breathe for wanting her so much. She had told him that there would be a moment when he would look at her want nothing more than to see that ring on her finger. 

It wasn’t romantic. 

It wasn’t planned. 

But she was right. 

He couldn't sleep another night beside her without her wearing his ring. 

Taking one last look at her, he walked softly as he could, to the dresser by the entry to their room and opened his sock drawer. He figured he had gone through all the other cliches with the he ring, he might as well put in the sock drawer as well. He pulled the ring from the box and then made his way slowly to the bed. He slipped under the covers, the ring biting into his palm. Felicity nodded, groaning a little as she was shaken awake. He smiled, leaning over to place a kiss on her check. 

“Hon, can you turn your light out?” He asked, nudging her cheek with his nose. She mumbled distractedly and leaned over the flip the light off. Moving quickly, he sat the ring on the spine of her book, it rested there precariously but it would do. Felicity glanced back at him, a little more aware than mere seconds ago and smiled. 

“Night, babe.” She said sweetly. And then turned back to her book, grabbing the bookmark off the nightstand. He knew the second she spotted it. Her stance stiffened and she let out a burst of air that sounded like a laugh. 

He sat up, staring at her as she caught up to the moment and he was surprised how at peace he felt. He knew that this was the perfect moment. This is what he had been wanting to give her for months. 

When she finally turned to him, her eyes were just as wet as his were and she smiled. 

“You’re such a sap, Oliver Queen.” She said on a laugh. 

He smiled, and reached over to grab the ring from the spine of her book and then slipped her hand into his, sliding the ring into place. 

“Yeah, well. You’re going to marry me. So what does that say about you?” He asked, a suspicious lump in his throat. 

“That I’m pretty damn lucky.” She whispered, her happiness running down her cheeks.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the closest to cannon as this series will probably ever get.


End file.
